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Spitting Mad

One of my pet peeves, well this actually is way beyond a peeve, is when somebody licks their fingers to count money they are about to hand you. You know if I wanted you to spit on my money I would ask. It’s a gross and disgusting habit that is all too common. People lick their fingers to go through papers, count money, or a newer one to grab a plastic (instead of paper) bag in the grocery store that are on those little hangers. That one is even worse then the money one. Lets just spit on all my food while you are at it.

Granted I have contamination OCD and this behavior to me is assault with intent to do great bodily harm. There ought to be a law (and I am really not kidding much). It is still more then just a gross behavior. Wanna know where you caught that last cold or the flu? Hmmm, been to the grocery store lately? I could list a whole lot more that could be transmitted by this route but you get the idea. And doing a quick web search for lick fingers count money I find that many people find this to be disgusting, even, apparently normal folks.

Being hyper-vigilant and hyper-aware (the really tiering part of OCD) I always scope out the check out lines for finger lickers and other Typhoid Mary types. I am usually pretty good at avoiding them. You just have to watch for a minute while you pretend to read the tabloids. but every now and then you get a stealth licker. Like the one I got today. I watched a couple of people go through ahead of me. Not in a tongue in site. But then my turn came and my food is all bagged and then he had to make change. Sure enough lick the old thumb and start counting off my money.

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Spitting Mad — 7 Comments

Cash is one of those items I can only cope with after I’ve washed it. Yip, disinfect it. Get it out of the money machine, take it home and wash it.
Which is why I don’t use it much, I use the plastic card, but then I wash that as well.
Just heat the heck out of that dinner to kill those bugs ;)

awh Thankyou Nelson.. that made me chuckle not in a at you way more in a at ocd way ya know.. iv not had much in the way of conatamination issues i seem to block them this last year they get bad i work in a pub and the money there IS dirty i have to wash my hands after every cutomer (gladly i only work the quiet shifts!) but lickers yes its gross! and face pickers and hair strokers get me too.. checkout assisitants asat there picking there face or playing withthere hair then touching your shopping and money and Argh!

I have seen people, mainly women, who lick a finger to turn each and every page of a book, or papers. It’s not a pleasant thing to watch. I understand that the hands and fingers get dry very easy, but there’s lotion for that. There used to be a product called QUIKSTIK which was similar to Vaseline but packed into a small blob. It was used primarily by bank tellers, but also could be used to prevent the need to finger-lick.
Recently my 5-year-old cousin came to visit and ask me to read to her. About halfway through a children’s storybook, she stopped me and said that I was supposed to Finger-lick as I turned the pages. I thought “you’ve got to be kidding me, a 5-year-old is telling me that I don’t know how to read properly”. Didn’t see that one coming.
I agree with you on the hygiene issue, but for me it’s more of a visual pet peeve.

What about people who use their saliva for cleaning purposes?
Such as someone who does so to wipe something off another person’s face? Saliva does not replace soap and water. If there’s a stain on my face, let me know and I’ll take care of it. Thank You.

There was a Seinfeld episode in which George was at a bookstore, took a book into the bathroom to read while he was on the toilet. He had to buy the book, then tried to return it. The store would not give him a refund because it had been red-flagged because it was in the bathroom. What if bookstores had the same policy for finger lickers?
Imagine the policy stating: You lick it, you buy it. Maybe it will make these people think twice before leaving their spit with no regard for the health of others.

Thoughts are things; they have tremendous power. Thoughts of doubt and fear are pathways to failure. When you conquer negative attitudes of doubt and fear you conquer failure. Thoughts crystallize into habit and habit solidifies into circumstances.

by Bryan Adams

The OCD Stories

As OCD is rarely limited to one specific type in one individual it is difficult to place the stories in one category. I have tried to place them in the categories below, by what appears to be the primary category.

Most stories end up in the Pure O category. This is the category for Intrusive thoughts and ruminating. Or obsessions without a clear external compulsion